GREATEST METAL ALBUM CUP - Winner: Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son!

Burnt Offerings was a huge grower for me. It’s such a vicious and fiery prog-tinged thrash record, and every song on it (even the acoustic interlude) is killer. Barlow’s performance is great and shows a side of him never captured again, given he (IIRC) got vocal lessons afterwards and this was a more raw early performance from him. His high notes on “Burning Oasis” and “Creator Failure” floor me.

Opening with an intro seemingly inspired by The Exorcist’s theme really helps get into the vibes the album sets up. Then they throw in their own takes on Romeo & Juliet, monsters, and religion, and finish off with the incredible 16 minute epic “The Divine Comedy, Part I”. The songs each have their own shades, and this one probably has the most riffs per album, which becomes obvious when you hit its finale. “Dante’s Inferno” is the band’s “Rime”, and pretty much as good as Maiden’s beast.

This album is my third favorite from their discography, behind Horror Show and Something Wicked This Way Comes. It’s the pinnacle of thrash Iced Earth. After this one they had to simplify their sound to find new inspiration, which wasn’t bad, just different. A terrific album.
 
Although I hate to partake in the Maiden bias, I can't tell AC/DC songs apart from each other until they reach the chorus (and even then sometimes I can't). Dance of Death is the second-weakest reunion album in my book, but still.

Still Life is one of Opeth's best records and laid the blueprint for their best years. Nothing against UFO, but this is an easy pick.

Burnt Offerings is an album that is often overlooked in Iced Earth's Barlow-era discography in favor of the three more polished albums that followed, but there's such a dark and raw vibe to it that I like. I don't like Motorhead, so this was easy for me.

Lots of cheese in that final matchup. Stratovarius has never done anything for me, so its an easy pick for Rush - even though I am an anomaly and prefer their '80s work (including Permanent Waves, because it's close enough) to the rest of their catalogue.
 
AC/DC, UFO, Motörhead, Rush

Great round with some absolute classic albums. Last matchup is very, very tough. Visions is the obvious underdog here, and I love so many songs off that album, but there's an expertly crafted (and quite heavy at times) prog rock experience on Hemispheres. La Villa Strangiato is my favorite Rush song, and Hemispheres probably in my top 3 Rush albums. I hope Visions can get a sizable backing behind it though. Quite a good album too.
 
AC/DC - Another AC/DC classic, Highway to Hell, Shot Down in Flames, Touch Too Much, If You Want Blood, Night Prowler are all classics, and the rest are a high standard too., with Get It Hot and Love Hungry Man leaning more towards the filler end of the spectrum.

Iron Maiden - opinion given before. Ah come on with the choice of track though @LooseCannon I hope that was just a mistake and you meant to post the real version (which isn't a lot better to be fair :lol: )

AC/DC with the win, I think even Steve Harris would probably vote the same way.

Opeth - I gave this a listen this time, as unlike the last round this one kicked off with the sort of stuff they do that I like, it's real frustrating listening to these as on the evidence of what I've heard about half there stuff is great stuff I could really get on board with and the other half is totally anathema to me, and often thats two halves of the same song!

U.F.O. - opinion given before

U.F.O. with the win

Iced Earth - Music not bad, vocal not awful either but quite hammy delivery. Entire vibe is quite different from what I would usually expect from these, almost like extreme metal played tighter and polished up a bit production wise, definitely the best of their stuff that's appeared in the game, it sounds like a band putting their own stamp on something whereas a lot of their other stuff wears it's influences too obviously on it's sleeves.

Motorhead - opinion given before

Motorhead with the win

Stratovarius - One of the worst band names in metal. I heard an album by these back in the day, can't remember which one and it was pretty shit, when this track kicked in it was a lot, lot better than what I'd heard before, more like Queensryche with a lot of keys added, and the keys are quite tasteful. I fully expected to be posting some snarky remarks when I hit play but this is actually real good.

Rush - Track won't appear for me, opinion given before

Fuck it I'm going to take a risk and throw Stratovarius a bone on this one, I would usually vote for Rush up against a band I don't know, but I don't have Hemispheres and have only given it a listen after an earlier round, of the tracks I know La Villa Strangiato is great but I dislike The Trees, plus Stratovarius have come off the blocks with a strong track and given I'm usually prejudiced against Euro power metal must mean it's a decent track. I'll hold my hands up afterwards if it turns out the rest of the album is rubbish :lol:
 
srfc said:
Not sure what I did to earn the "night prowler red face" there?
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srfc said:
Iced Earth - Music not bad, vocal not awful either but quite hammy delivery. Entire vibe is quite different from what I would usually expect from these, almost like extreme metal played tighter and polished up a bit production wise, definitely the best of their stuff that's appeared in the game, it sounds like a band putting their own stamp on something whereas a lot of their other stuff wears it's influences too obviously on it's sleeves.
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I presumed it was Stratocaster, no?

If it's stratosphere that's less cheesy but still not great.
 
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